Police Officers' Perception of How Mobile Data Terminals Affect Their Productivity: A Case Study

This was a single case study of a law enforcement agency located within the Atlanta-Metro area that has within the past three years started to utilize mobile data terminals (MDTs). This study consisted of 12 participants and attempted to answer the research question: How do police officers that utilize MDTs perceive these devices impact their work and affect their productivity. To answer this question, the study used semistructured interviews with questions from the technology acceptance model (TAM), observational ride-alongs, and follow-up interviews. Once this data was collected, it was transcribed and analyzed to help identify themes and code the data. With the data categorized, major themes emerged from this research study. Those themes were determined to be overall attitude, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and the observation of network issues. Further investigation of these themes indicated that the participants of the research study felt that the MDT had a positive effect on their overall productivity. The data collected during this research study shows that the participants over the age of 30 felt more strongly than those of the other age groups, that the usage of MDTs had an overall positive effect on their productivity. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]